Jordi and Bella's American Adventure: Route 66

ROUTE 66!!!!!

U.S. Highway 66 — popularly known as Route 66 — holds a special place in American consciousness. Its name commonly evokes images of simpler times, mom-and-pop businesses, and the icons of a mobile nation on the road.

Route 66 had it’s official beginning in 1926 and embodies a complex, rich history that goes well beyond the road itself. It stretches 2,400 miles (approx. 4000km) across two-thirds of the continent, crosses 8 states and three time zones.

We only hopped on it at the east end of Arizona (Flagstaff) as we continued heading east but we were in full anticipation looking for all the ‘kicks’ on the famous route 66. We soon discovered that most of the famous road had been heavily overshadowed by the more direct Hwy 40 (and then Hwy 44) which replaced 66 in the 1985 when the road 66 was decommissioned. Although 85% of the old road is still drivable and is waiting for adventurous travellers, like us, to be found, most take the easier and faster highway 40.

Here are some of the interesting ‘Kicks we have found along the way:

The buildings

The Diners

The Old Fuel Stations

The Motels

The Memorabilia

And let’s not forget THE CARS!!!

There were a couple of National Parks and Monuments we stopped as a little detour from Route 66.

One of them was Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park. These are like two Parks combined into one.

The Petrified Forest was incredible. You drive around and there are thousands of 30 million old trees (logs) just lying around and looking exquisite! Apparently they have a massive problem in this National Park with people coming and stealing pieces. They said they lose on average 3 ton of petrified wood a month! That is incredible! It doesn’t help that there are private people next door who are selling just little offcuts for an absolute fortune (as in thousands of dollars).

The piece that Bella is sitting on (below) would probably be worth over $100,000! Mind you this one would probably be way too heavy for anyone to steal it. It is pretty much a solid rock now. But look how pretty it is!!!

And here they are, just laying around!

In the Petrified Forest we also saw some magnificent petroglyphs (ancient paintings on the rock walls)

The Petrified Forest soon changed into The Painted Desert. That is such appropriate name for is as the sand formations were in all sorts of amazing colors. It was truly a desert worth painting!

Of course we got to complete another Junior Ranger Program

We also went to visit the best-preserved meteorite impact site in the world. There, about 50,000 years ago a piece of asteroid hit the ground at about 26,000 miles per hour / 8 miles a second (approx.. 42,000km/ 12 km a second!) That is a huge KABOOM! Check out the hole it made in the ground!

Here are a few pictures from the movie we watched there, which explained how fast this little ‘space junk’ flew. Incredible!!!

Now, all there is left is one gigantic whole in the ground!

SANTA FE

Mummy was really looking forward to getting to Santa Fe (New Mexico) as she had seen a lot of wonderful pictures from that part of the country. Her picture-snapping finger was ready for a new workout.

After searching the web mummy came across a kids art camp website and she found out on the phone that they still had some spots available. We were so excited because we would mingle with some kids, our parents because they’d get a break from us.

A lady from the center (Laura – who soon became our great friend) recommended we stay down the road at a campground called Glorietta. It was a huge Baptist Church Conference Center, where over 1500 of kids a week come in for summer camps. It looked like they were having lots of fun but we left them to their own devices – we were heading for our own, extraordinary camp!

When we arrived at the campground we had a couple of days before our camp was starting so we waited no more and went to discover the famous sites of Santa Fe.

Mummy found a tour through our smart home-schooling website http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/home-school-curriculum/?source=115717.

The tour was incredible. We went to a bronze art foundry located on an 8-acre sculpture garden, called Shidoni. For those of you who have no idea what it is – it is a place where artists turn their sculptures into BRONZE sculptures and make them super-duper expensive.

We are so glad we got a chance to walk through the factory and learn all about the massive and time consuming process of turning a great sculpture into an extraordinary one. We even met some of the people who work there who were happy to give up their lunch break to tell us all about the work they do.

Here is a process in nutshell. Are you ready for this? From a clay sculpture, which would take forever to make, they make a rubber mold of the clay.

Then they make a “mother mold”, which is used to produce a wax model, which they then refine making it nice and smooth. Then they put metal rods through the wax sculpture.

The wax casting is then dipped into a liquid binder (kind of like plaster), which will have to be repeated over and over again (after it dries each time). Then they drill some holes and bake the shell to remove the wax, then they pour the bronze.

After it cools down they remove the shell and sandblast it. Then they weld it and metal chase it. Once that’s done they’ll put sculptors colors and textures through either brushing or spraying. Then they coat it with wax.

Did you get all that? Now, that is only a BRIEF summary! But this is how you go from an ordinary sculpture to something like this:

So next time you see a bronze sculpture and a price tag, which makes you lightheaded, think about the amount of work that it went through. This horse below for example took over 800 hours of labor! And that’s only AFTER somebody actually sculpted it.

We really liked learning about the sculpting process. We even tried to persuade mummy and daddy to let us bronze some of the animals we made the other day out of playdoh – but they said no!

The Shidoni foundry has also an art gallery ( a walk-through 8 acre sculpture garden) and represents over 150 artists.

Also, there was a glass – blowing gallery next door, where we got to watch a man make glass out of fireballs! It was totally ace!

He even blew it like a balloon!

The manager from Shidoni told us our next stop must absolutely be Canyon Road in Santa Fe. This is where the biggest congregation of galleries is located. We knew this was going to be good but we had no idea it would be so mind boggling!

Gallery, next to a gallery, next to a gallery. Lucky daddy had all the credit cards in his pockets otherwise mummy would spent all the money! The art was sensational but what were even prettier were the galleries themselves. The Santa Fe style – the render, the colorful doors

and windows,

and fences

the pretty flower pots

the beautifully manicured gardens

and lets not forget the sculptures!

Oh, the beautiful sculptures!!!

Half way through our Canyon Road walkabout the galleries closed (it was past 6pm) but we didn’t care – some of those galleries were as beautiful outside as they were inside. And mummy figured, if she is not allowed to buy any art, by golly- she will be taking pictures -even if it’s of the doors of closed galleries, LOL

Or pots on the walls!

Or the Bumblebees on the flowers

Or whatever pretty insect she would find!

Ok, so I think you’d guessed by now that we really, really liked Santa Fe!

The next day was a very special day – the 4^th of JULY!!! Not knowing anyone yet in New Mexico, we decided to join the ‘crowds’ in the plaza for the celebration of this special American Day (Independence Day). Our friends from Alaska (our Husky racing friends) have sent us a copy of the Declaration of Independence, which was a very interesting read for our parents. Mummy said it was one of those ‘things that make you go hmmmm’ moments reading it……

For us? Well, we just enjoyed the celebrations! First we went to the Santa Fe Plaza where people gathered for morning markets, old car show and pancake breakfast.

No massive parades here (50% Spanish base?), but we really enjoyed the car show and meeting patriotic people.

In the evening we enjoyed magnificent fireworks!!!

OK, so the Monday finally arrived and we drove 25 miles north of Santa Fe to meet our new best friends: Sherwin (dad) and Laura (daughter) Tarnoff, who run the Summer Art Camp.

What initially started as a ‘trial’ few day camp, ended up being an awesome week, and not just for us but for our parents as well.

Our first day fell on Friday. We arrived in the morning and met our wonderful teachers, Dina and Maureen.

We had an absolute blast! We started the class with some meditation and then off we went painting and drawing and making stuff out of clay. We made collages and we built things out in the woods. The art school is situated on Mr. Tarnoff’s 10-acre property, which has lots of interesting places every turn you take. It truly is a paradise for kids like us. Needless to say that by the time our parents came to pick us up, we were not going anywhere fast, LOL

Mr. Tarnoff (or grandpa Sherwin as he became fondly known) invited us over to his place and our parents totally ‘hit it off’ with him and his daughter Laura (director of the art center). As we hopped on the trampoline outside with Laura’s son Sammy, mummy and daddy were cooking up a great plan for the next few days.

Laura mentioned to mummy that they would be having adult classes on the weekend with a famous Cuban artist Pablo Perea and she invited her to participate. Mummy was wrapped – she always wanted to learn how to paint, although she wasn’t sure about the class subject – self-portrait! Ouch! How is that a topic to start off with? Especially when mummy spends a lot of her life BEHIND the camera?!!

She decided to give it a ‘go’ anyway! Daddy also got an invitation from Sherwin himself to learn from him how to do artistic welding. That was definitely up daddy’s alley!

The only thing our parents weren’t sure what to do is …..well – us! How could you possibly attend two days classes when you have kids (not any kids but still..) at toe?

Their answer came as soon as they went to say goodbye to the teachers. Violet was a girl we befriended during our class that day and it just happened that Violet’s grandma came to pick her up and searched for our parents to introduce herself (Violet told her she really liked us). Violet’s grandma (Julie- who by the way is super-ace!) asked our parents if we could come over and have a play on the weekend. Mummy told Julie about the classes she and daddy were thinking of taking and before you know it Julie invited both of us to come and play with Violet for the whole day on Saturday!

We were thrilled and mummy and daddy couldn’t believe how nice it was of her to offer.

So the weekend was looking very, very promising!

Mummy ended up doing classes with Pablo Perea (who also became a very good friend. As well as his wife, Andrea and adorable son Theo).

The class was very, very interesting, mummy said, and although she didn’t like the topic to start with, Pablo helped her work look like art by the time she finished. Although she still seemed to have her camera stuck to her face, LOL

Daddy also had a ball. Sherwin was a patient teacher and helped daddy make some groovy sculptures.

On Saturday he made us a cat. Check this out!!!

Mummy said his next sculpture should be this cow we saw the other day. Daddy just said ‘no worries, mate’!

While our parents were being trained to become artists (LOL), we had a ball with Violet and her wonderful grandparents, Julie and Jerry and their two beautiful dogs, Annie and Bruno. We went for walks and we went to a nice café for lunch. Again, we didn’t want to leave when our parents came to pick us up. The only way we would budge is if we all agreed that Violet could come for a sleep over at our campground on the following Tuesday. It was a very good plan!!!

That night our family joined the Tarnoffs and their fun group of friends at a wonderful Spanish restaurant where we got to see some serious looking Flamenco Dancers ‘tap’ all night. They were incredible!

We liked them so much that we started dancing on the side (of course) and what do you know? We ended up on the stage (again, LOL). Oh boy, we love the attention!

During our dinner we met a wonderful, good looking couple from Chicago, Tony and Cheryl (sitting next to me). They told us to visit them when we are up Chicago way. They seemed like such fun people - you bet we will catch up with them!

On Sunday, we went with our parents to the summer camp but we kept out of mummy and daddy’s way, which was pretty easy. Sammy (Laura’s son) was there, Pablo’s wife with little Theo who we had a fun with and our best buddy Boris – the handsome giant Schnauzer! Who needs parents when you have such a fun entourage!

On Sunday night, as soon as we got changed back at the campground we went to Linda’s Gallery opening (we only met Linda at her gallery, she was Pablo’s friend). At the gallery, there where not only beautiful paintings but we also got to eat yummy treats and got to meet a lot of nice people (mostly artists). It was a real fun night. Linda gave us cute little fridge magnet with her paintings on it – they will always remind us of her.

Monday was a bit of a ‘bitter-sweet’ day for us. Bitter because our parents made us miss the camp, sweet because mummy had something fun planned for us. We went to ‘Bonanza Ranch’, a place where dozens of western movies were made. There we met Mike, who was an awesome guide and he took us through this amazing, life-size, actual buildings movie-set. It was incredible!

As we were walking the streets, people were working on preparing the buildings for the next ‘bestseller’, actresses were learning to work with horses and we got to meet some movie stars. Well, only those of equine kind.

The set was tremendous, and needless to say mummy got us ‘working’ again. Lucky we like the attention of the camera. Any camera!!!

Mummy couldn’t get enough of the scenery. And while she was snapping landscapes, Mike was happy to entertain us with teaching us how to rope a bull

Or a barrel.

Or each other.

After four hours of great fun at the ranch, we invited Mike to join us for lunch. He said we would love to but first he had to go and feed HIS horses. Well, it didn’t take us long to offer him some help, which he gladly accepted and so we ended up on Mike’s ranch.

We helped him catch the horses (sort of, we opened the gate)

We helped him feed them as well

And yeah, see the cute cowboy in the middle – that’s daddy. Mummy says he makes a fine cowboy indeed. Even if he doesn’t ride horses.

After we fed Mike’s horses we ended up going to this great little restaurant where we had some nice Mexican food. Yummo!

We also played with their animals outside.

And then we had to say goodbye to Mike… He was such an awesome guide!

On Tuesday we returned to Summer Camp, where …you guest it – we had an amazing time!!!

Mummy would like to make a note here for anyone looking for a great camp for kids, here is a link to Turnoff’s art Centre (which is a non profit organization by the way) – we would like to HIGHLY recommend it – to kids AND to adults!

http://www.tarnoffartcenter.org/TarnoffArtCenter/Welcome.html

While we were having time of our lives at the art camp, mummy and daddy got a chance to do some more hiking.

As our little legs were in a serious need of a hiking-break (well, except we were still happy to run around the camp), they got a chance to do it in double- speed. Without answering questions like: are we there yet? How long is this walk? How many miles? How many minutes? Hours? When do we stop? Did you bring any snacks? I am hungry! Are we there yet?

Well, anyway, you get the ‘drift’? They finally got a chance to hike to their hearts content!

They went to check out all the near-by ruins. They particularly liked Pecos Historical Monument

They also drove to Bandelier National Monument, which is a 33,000-acre (no they didn’t walk it all) area of rugged canyons with dwellings carved into the soft cliffs, some going back as far as 11,000 years.

Mummy had a chance to do some more ‘spring – shooting’,

while daddy tried his luck in gold panning (no, there was no gold in New Mexico).

One day mummy even went to a day spa/ hot springs (Ojo Caliente Mineral Spa) with the girls from her art class, Lauren and Jen. When she came back she told us she had a mud bath. A mud bath? That’s great Mum, if you liked that, we can do that for you for free, LOL

On Tuesday night, like our parents promised us, we had Violet came for a sleep over.

We had a great time checking out our massive campground.

We went and played with horses

We also played a round of golf.

Next day mummy came to camp with us. We had to pretend she was invisible, as she just wanted to paint. Daddy had to drive to the town of Albuquerque (2hrs away) to pick up some important mail so mummy was free to paint her heart away!

Laura (the director) and Sherwin set up an art area for mummy in the woods. It was a beautiful sunny day and with great music in the background mummy had her special day. She even painted a bison. Not bad for a second panting?

She later on refined it into this:

That night (Thursday) there was something special going on in town…

Have you noticed how jam-packed our days have been here? Boy, this place rocks!

Anyway, an International Craft Market was going to take place this coming weekend (which is big-deal annual event in Santa Fe) and so all the artists (some who have never even been on a plane) had flown in to showcase their artwork (craft) and raise some funds for their villages. On Thursday night they were ‘kicking-off’ with an African Band and a big Introductory Parade.

Mummy was in heaven – where else could you photograph so many unusual people in one spot?!

Some of those people were from countries we could not even pronounce!

All in beautiful traditional costumes!

And so we decided to take some pictures with them as soon as they got off the stage. I think mummy bribed us -10 pictures with the most unusual people – for an ice cream. (Well, we’ll do anything for an ice cream!)

Heck, we even got on stage with the band! Why not!

As you can see in the pictures, Violet joined us at the party. Her mum just arrived from California so we had our last few days to play together.

And then the party began! We were dancing and singing to the Western African beat. Not just us, but everybody! Of course we got to dance with all the invited artists.

Even our art teacher, Dina joined us for boogie.

The next day was Friday and we decided to do a day trip to a place Mike (the western ranch tour guide) recommended. Violet decided to join us for a whole day, which was great!

We went to a place called El Rancho De Las Golondrinas, which translated to ‘The Ranch of the Swallows’. It is a historic rancho, now a living history museum, which dates back to the 1700s.

There we went on a tour and learned how some Spaniards arrived there 300 years ago and weren’t allowed to talk to the outside world (i.e. Americans or anybody). They had to create their own world and be self-sufficient as they were only receiving food and supplies every 18 months or 3 years – depending if the supply carts happened to come past.

We also learned how they were constantly being attacked by the Native Indians and how they eventually signed a treaty with them, which ended up being the longest standing treaty in the USA.

We had a look at how these people lived. In fact there were a lot of volunteers there who actually dressed in the olden days clothing and were performing their work, just like those people would’ve 300 years ago.

Some ladies even showed us how they used to make clothing.
Very interesting!

We went on a horse carriage ride to check out the rest of this fascinating ranch. Lucky we had the horses as the scorching temperatures in the New Mexican summer were taking the toll on us and walking the 200-acre property might’ve been a bit too much for us.

During our horse carriage ride, we got dropped off at the Olden Day school and met the ‘teacher’. Daddy really liked the ‘behavior adjustment device’ he was using. He said, he needs to invest in one of those himself. ‘The good old days’ he kept on repeating. Not sure what was ‘good’ about that!

After our excursion we went to have late lunch at the nearby spa. It was situated among beautiful gardens, which was a lovely contrast to the dusty ranch we just came out of.

We had a lovely lunch and the waitresses kept on coming to our parents and telling them what wonderful manners we had. Our parents were so puffed up about it. Bella just made a comment before the waitress left ‘Why, thank you! And would you please send our complement to the chef for this scrumptious lunch’. The waitress almost fainted- she was so impressed! And apparently so was the chef.

After lunch, we went exploring in the gardens, which were quite beautiful

We also did some running to burn some suddenly increased energy.

And took lots o photos of course!

When we dropped off Violet at her grandparents home, we got to hang out with her mum, grandma and grandpa. Our parents were talking with the adults while we played some more with Violet and her younger brother Fox (who arrived the other day with his mum).

That night ‘grandpa Sherwin’ invited us over for a pizza. His grandson Sammy and his friend Lygren, joined us as well. The trampoline certainly got well used that night.

Grandpa Sherwin made us the most delicious Chicago style Pizza. Sherwin was born and raised in Chicago and he had proven to us that Chicago has the best pizzas in the USA. It was delicious! While we were munching on the yummy pizza Sherwin entertained us with his incredible stories of when he used to run a gun and explosive rentals business for the movie industry and how he got involved in special effects. It was mighty fascinating; especially that Sherwin KNOWS how to tell his stories.

On Saturday we went to the International Craft’s Market, which finally opened to public. It was fabulous although packed.

We had some great food (from Ethiopia) and enjoyed awesome entertainment. Our African ‘friends’ were playing on stage again.

Of course we got to ‘boogie’.

And boogie some more!

During the show we caught up with a lot of great artists, a lot of them already recognizing us (especially those ones we danced with the other night).

The craft market was a total success. For us- because we had fun, for mummy- as she took a lot of photos, for daddy- as we did not spend too much money (a lot of craft things were made out of material we cannot bring back to Australia) and for all the artists – the place was packed and people certainly did not mind spending money.

After the big show at the craft market we got back to our campground, hooked up the caravan (trailer) and we drove to our summer camp for the weekend. That night we had a great party at grandpa Sherwin’s place, which Laura organized with lots of friends and artists attending. The party was a hit!

But when we got there (a bit before the party) Laura showed us something really cool – she taught us how to make pottery on a wheel.

This couldn’t be part of the camp as there were not enough wheels for all the kids but now that we were alone (only with Violet and Fox who soon joined us), she let us all have a little play. Mummy stayed back and supervised us and we had so much fun that we almost forgot we were going to go to the party….

Check out what we had made…

Mummy, can we get a pottery wheel in the caravan????

The party was great! Lots of people arrived (most who we already met). Laura’s husband Tom and Violets grandpa Jerry cooked up some yummy food (and so did Pablo, not just an artist on canvas!). It was all delicious!

While we waited for the yummy food, our art camp teacher, Dina, entertained us with the ancient art of Japanese ‘Bow and Arrow’. I am sure there was Japanese name for it, but I am sure I don’t remember it.

After we filled our tummies we all wondered off through the pitch-black woods to get to the campfire, where daddy helped with starting up a fire (he has become a fire master by now).

We all set by the fire telling jokes and listening to daddy play a duet with Gary - daddy on a didgeridoo and Gary on a viola – it was a fascinating combination!

Grandpa Sherwin arrived a bit later (came home late from his date) and took over with telling us some funny stories. He certainly is the life of the party!

Sunday was our last day at the Tarnoff Summer Camp, which by now become our second home and the people in it – our extended family.

We all went our for a delicious brunch in a local café.

After lunch, daddy took us to the local pool with Violet and her grandpa and Sammy and his dad. We had a blast. What did mummy do? Oh, yes she painted! Again! I think she totally ‘swallowed....hook, line and sinker’ –she's so into painting right now.

Mummy, Laura and also Violet’s mum (Terzza) who arrived from LA joined in a wonderful day of painting, which did not finish till midnight. I (Jordi) joined them in the evening and we had so much fun we almost didn’t realize the calendar had turned the page to the next day.

This was mummies latest watercolour creation (inspired by a picture she saw in one of the Santa Fe galleries)

It was so sad to say goodbye to ‘grandpa’ Sherwin, Laura and the two teachers, Dina and Maureen, who we became extremely fond of. Even Boris seemed sad to see us go. He is such a sweet, beautiful dog!

We will never forget our wonderful stop in Santa Fe and the GREAT people who made our adventure sooooooo much fun!

Amarillo, Texas

Shortly after entering Texas we had some bikies waving daddy down. No, not to shoot him – to tell him our caravan/trailer was on fire!

What??? Sure enough, the right hand side wheel was smokin’!!! We pulled up as soon as we could and after close inspection realized that we lost a bearing (went to heaven) and we shredded the brakes and melted a part of the axel (you know the stick that goes between the tires?). Anyway, it looked like we were in no condition to drive any further.

Luckily enough we just arrived in a big town called Amarillo in Texas, where we were planning to spend a couple of days. We managed to crawl to the nearest tire repair place and were promised to be looked at first thing in the morning (it was almost 5pm).

The manager was nice enough to call near by motel and negotiate super duper deal for us to stay the night. For the price he quoted us, we were expecting a ‘how’s your father?’ type of establishment but we were pleasantly surprised, it was very nice. It even had an indoor pool (in the shape of Texas of course).

As we walked into our nicely air conditioned room with a gigantic television, daddy noticed something advertised on the room key. It said Free 72oz. (approx. 2.25kg) steak with a free limo pickup. What???

It turns out there was a restaurant up the road (15 min drive), which had been seen on TV as a place where you can take up a challenge to eat a massive steak (cooked to your liking) with side dishes and drinks of course. If you eat it in under an hour- you’ll get it for free. If you don’t, you pay $75.

Of course we had to check it out! Within half an hour we had a limousine, with big long horns in the front, picking us up. And within an hour daddy was staring at half a cow lying in front of him. No, he didn’t enter the competition – he chickened out. The cow he was starring at was his ‘normal’ size dish!

He then proceed to make a comment when his huge glass of beer arrived ‘Wow, this is huge’ he said. “ Yes, sir, you in Texas now, sir. Enjoy the meal y’all’.

During our meal we had three lovely men come around and play us some nice Texan music. Ah, we love Texas!

After dinner, which made our stomachs burst at seams, we ‘rolled’ into our private limousine (with even larger horns) and were safely delivered back to our hotel.

The next day we swam in the pool while our wheeles were getting fixed. A few hours and almost a $1,000 later we were back on the road. Not for very long though – our campground was only 20 minutes away, next to…wow – some massive waterpark!

Needless to say we spent the rest of the day in the waterpark daring each other to get down these massive water slides. It was a blast!

The next day, after spending some time in Walmart and refueling on our food supplies, we went to check out the Quarter Horse Museum. There is obviously some serious money in horses here as the building was just stunning! Mummy decided she’s going to get a quarter horse when she gets back home. Daddy said he’ll spend the other three quarters on toys for himself. LOL

Also, being in Amarillo one couldn’t possibly miss the ‘Cadillac Ranch’. It is a massive block of land obviously owned by someone with a sense of humor – somebody who decided to half- burry 10 Cadillacs in a row and allow people to ‘leave their mark’ by spray-painting them.

Mummy didn’t let us spray them saying that it was vandalism but they kind-of looked cool like that. What wasn’t cool though is the whole area around where people decided to dump all used up spray cans – the place looked like junk-yard. What a pity!

In the afternoon we decided to attend a musical EVERYBODY was telling us about. And it wasn’t until we attended that we understood WHY.

Trust Texans to come up with something so huge and grand! The musical did not take place in a normal theatre as you would expect – the amphitheater was carved out of and nestled into a natural basin in the majestic Palo-Duro Canyon (only second in size to the Grand Canyon)! WOW!

But before we tell you more about the show, let us start at the beginning. We arrived a bit earlier so that we can have a Chuck-Wagon dinner, which was delicious.

There was a musician playing on his guitar just outside of the picnic area who was a great entertainer. Within 5 minutes of our arrival he already knew our names, knew we were from Australia and was playing music to cater for our little footsteps.

Initially there was only just the two of us dancing with people cheering us on.

Then we found some handsome cowboys to dance with

And before you knew it, we had a big crowd on the ‘dance floor’ doing a crazy chicken dance – it was so much fun!!!

All people who have arrived had to register in their guest book and put in a pin in this huge map to show where they came from. There were literally thousands of pins from all over the world. And that’s only for this season’s performances.

When we placed our pin, little did we know that during show’s intermission they’d call our names out, make us stand up and announce that we were the FURTHEST visitors for their show that night. They said that we flew 9,800miles to see their show. Little did they know that we added another 36,000 miles on the road on top of our flights! I bet that would’ve trumped all their attendees over the last 45 years of performing!

We were given a little gift of appreciation and we had people from everywhere coming up to us to say hello or just simply make us repeat ‘G’day Mate’. Bella and I got really good at it, LOL.

A lady in a row behind us even went and bought a show program for us. How nice was that? A little girl came up to Bella and told her she was ‘dying’ to meet her.

We were absolutely overwhelmed by people’s friendliness and their incredible Texan politeness. A man in the cafeteria even called us ‘Ma’am’ and we are only 6 & 8 !!!

The show itself was incredible. It started with a horseman carrying an American flag atop 600-foot cliff and galloping along the ridge. The music played by an orchestra followed with about 60 actors appearing on stage. We were totally entrenched!

The show made us laugh, it made us cry and it made us jump out of our seats thanks to wonderful special effects. The whole canyon was used as a stage. There were horsemen in the background, there were Indians appearing, there were fights and parties. There was even a lightning strike, which split a huge tree in half. There were fires, there were stars, there was an incredible dancing water show and to top it all off there were magnificent fireworks at the end. I don’t think the word ‘WOW’ covers it- it was just incredible!

Mummy wasn’t allowed to take photographs during the show so y’all have to go and see it for yourself – certainly worth the drive (even over 40,000 miles, LOL)!!!

What also struck us in the show was the amazing patriotism Americans, and especially Texans feel for their country and their land. It was very special to watch and be part of.

After the show we went to meet all the actors. Bella was going around shaking people’s hands and telling them what an incredible job she though they did. They all loved her comments. Not sure if it was the Aussie accent that they were loving or the little 6 year old in a cowboy hat talking like an adult.

We even got to chat to a Native American who is the REAL great, grand son of…someone really famous (sorry, forgot his name, ooops). HE was telling our parents an anecdote about his famous great grand father. He said that when his great-grand pa went to see the white chief and told him that Native Americans are willing to try to live within the ‘white rules’ he was told that he could only keep one of his seven wives. His great grand father thought about it for a while and then responded “OK, but you tell them about it”.

We got the actors to sign our program book and tell us all the ‘tricks of the trade’ for our reference. We both decided that we would become actresses in the near future – it looked like they were having a blast! And that is exactly what we live for!

After shaking hands with every one of the 60 actors, we went over to talk to the horses and told them they also did a great job. By the time we were finished it was almost midnight. We both decided this was the best day of our lives……..at least until tomorrow of course!

The next day we had to hit the road again. We have organized to catch up with our Rafting Buddies we met in Colorado this weekend, and since they live just ‘around the corner’ (661miles away, over 1000km) we had to get going.

We didn’t get very far to start with, though. Mummy decided she needs to get Texan spurs (that’s the nasty-looking spikey attachments on your cowboy boots to make the horse run for his life……or listen). We only stopped for a few minutes but two hours later mummy and daddy were still chatting away to the manager who happens to be a ‘fair –dinkum’ cowboy, who catches bulls on ropes for fun. He fitted nice longhorn spurs onto mummy’s boots and he even gave us lessons in roping. That’s after we got to try and sit on each and every saddle in the shop, LOL

Mummy and Daddy also made a decision that made me absolutely ecstatic – they finally bought me a ………….pocket knife!!!!!! Ok, grandmas don’t stress, it came with lots of rules and regulations on how it is going to be used. I bet Thayer (AKA Knifes, who we met in Utah) will be happy for me. After all he was my inspiration. I can’t wait get started on my sticks!

The next two days we spent mostly driving; stopping occasionally to admire old Route 66 displays throughout Oklahoma. To make our trip easier the next day mummy and daddy had a surprise waiting for us. On the homeschoolers website, mummy found a factory tour – and it wasn’t just any factory – it was an ICE -CREAM factory!!!!

Blue Bell Creameries factory (in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma) was fun to go through, especially that at the end they gave us huge samples. Mummy wasn’t allowed to take pictures on the tour but she said it was funny watching all the kids plastered onto the window watching ice-cream being made. 50 kids and….our daddy of course.

On the way out daddy was being very polite and held door open for everybody to go through. The tour lady saw it and told daddy that because he had such good manners he will get double scoop for his ice cream tasting. Daddy was in heaven!

As we sat down to munch on those yummy ice-creams, we met some lovely people who also attended a tour. They gave us lots of wonderful recommendations for the states, which we will be visiting shortly. It’s amazing how our itinerary takes shape ‘as we go’ – by great recommendations from great people!

It took us almost 9hrs to reach our Rafting Buddies in Missouri. The GPS predicted 6 hrs but it didn’t calculate that we are towing a big caravan/trailer (you’d think it would get used to it by now). It also didn’t calculate that we would get pulled over by …………police!

As we were minding our own business, driving down the highway, Bella decided she needed to go to the bathroom. So daddy pulled off the highway and stopped on the side of the road. As we were getting off the highway daddy noticed, that there was a police car ahead searching another vehicle. Daddy also mentioned something that we drove past a sign, which said ‘drug dogs in use’. Anyway, we didn’t think much of it at the time but as soon as we pulled up and mummy carried Bella and I across to the caravan a police car pulled up right behind us.

By the time we got out, daddy was being drilled in the police vehicle. After good 20 minutes, the police officer came up to mummy’s window and said ‘ Ma’am, I need to ask you some questions because your husband there is very nervous, he doesn’t know where he is going, is getting tight lipped and I am suspecting criminal activity’. Mummy just smirked and said ‘what have you done to him? Have you been drilling him or something?’ The policeman didn’t even blink and started to ask mummy billion questions to which she replied immediately with a detailed decription. He just kept on nodding his head and firing more questions. It was like a watching a game of ‘Twenty Questions’ but lengthier and in fast-forward.

The hardest thing mummy had to explain to him was that sometimes people can travel without a set target. That life can be about a journey and not just a destination. We are not sure what exactly she said to him but by the time she finished, he just smirked and said ‘roger that, ma’am!’. Then he left and let daddy go on his way.

(please note, the above vehicle is not the actual policeman who stopped us- mummy just downloaded this image to go with the story as she didn’t dare ask the other cop if she could snap his picture. LOL Besides the other one wasn’t this good looking. The registration has been blurred to protect the innocent)

‘What was that about?’ Mummy asked daddy when he returned. Daddy told us that apparently our car registration had expired a few days ago (the man who sold us the car only changed the name and didn’t do new registration as we found out). On top of that daddy found it hard to explain that it is mummy who punches the ‘new destination’ into our GPS every morning and that sometimes this destination might change if mummy comes across something interesting on the web. Or a recommendation from a great person. Daddy’s job is to drive. That’s it.

The policeman figured that when an Escalade pulls off the Hwy just after noticing the sign about a sniffer dogs in use, has no registration, is from California (as per rego plates), travels with no particular destination in Missouri and doesn’t seem to be working 9-5pm – that surely’s got to be a criminal. I mean really, it’s so easy to add 2+2+2 and make it 15. No?

What made the matters even worst was when the policeman asked daddy if he had any guns, drugs or dead bodies in the trailer, daddy thought that the question was so ridiculous that he replied with an Aussie humor ‘Not that I know of’. Ay, that didn’t go down very well!!!! He yelled at daddy so much that he got………well – ‘tight lipped’!

Mummy though it was totally hilarious and even while waiting for daddy she sent an email to our Rafting Buddies (the Dad happens to be an attorney) to say ‘Man, I think you’ll have to bail us out!’

Anyway, we somehow got off and went on our merry way to have one of the best weekends with our Rafting Buddies and their adorable dog – Buck.

We spent two wonderful days at our friends home, a 200-acre property in Missouri. They didn’t let us stay in our trailer but treated us like kings with their hospitality.

Heather, the super-chef had all sorts of gourmet dishes prepared and Chrys had the fridge full of beer and had his BBQ smoking’. They said that after having experienced ‘stressful Missouri’ we could chill now and see the real, beautiful part of the State. And that’s exactly what we did!

On Saturday we spent most of the day canoeing. Since we all met on a rafting trip (back in Durango, Colorado, where I celebrated my birthday and our Rafting Buddies were on vacation) – it was mighty appropriate that we go splash about once more.

The gentle waters of 11 Point River took us on a great adventure, where we splashed, and we swam and we just simply floated down the river… We had so much fun!

In the afternoon, Heather and Chrys decided to take us south to another state. The night before when they had a look at our map of travels they noticed that we will miss Arkansas and so to allow us to put ‘another star’ on the map, we ended up going to Mammoth Springs in Arkansas.

Mammoth Spring in Arkansas is the largest spring in the state and it flows at nine million gallons of water per hour. Forming a scenic 10-acre lake, it is a very historic place with remnants of a mill and hydroelectric plant. It is a very pretty spot and we got to walk around for a while.

We also got to check out an old train station (Frisco) with an old caboose, which we got to explore.

After that we went to a local restaurant for dinner and finished off our wonderful day with a ‘Spring Dipper’ – a mammoth size ice cream from a well-known local ice cream shop. Yummmmmmm!!!!

The next day, we went exploring our Rafting Buddies’ property. The boys (George and Owen) packed up their fishing gear, we grabbed some nets and together with the adults and adorable dog Buck, we went to the creek, which bordered their property. It was just magical!

We spent hours catching crawdads (yabbies), running and swimming in the creek and playing chases with Buck. Check out some of the creatures we found under the rocks!

Owen, the master hunter, also kept on catching some great looking fish.

Which he then kissed and let go…

Both Owen and his dad Chrys are bow hunters. They use their property to hunt deer with bow and arrow in the hunting season. In Owen’s bedroom where Bella and I stayed there was a taxidermy deer mounted on the wall. Owen ‘took’ him when he was just 7 years old!

After yummy lunch, we jumped on the trampoline for a while with the hose spraying water down on us – we had a blast!

In the afternoon we went to the local pool where we splashed some more and then on the way to dinner we went on a little tour around the town. Heather showed where she works (a business incubator which helps businesses get started). We also went past Chrys’ legal firm. We even got to meet the Judge – who has already heard about our adventures. Boy, seriously, we are getting famous!!! LOL

We ended up having dinner with our Rafting Buddies in one of those yummy BBQ places where people throw peanut shells on the ground.

The dinner was very nice and while our parents enjoyed last hours together, we (the kids and Owen – the pre-nager) got to work. We organized four brooms and we cleaned the whole downstairs of the restaurants.

Mummy taught us that one can’t eat and leave the mess behind! LOL

As a reward the manager of the restaurant gave us a huge bag of peanuts to share. We were so happy. That’s until mummy whispered in my ear on the way out ‘don’t you dare throw them on the ground at home or in the caravan!’ Now, what fun is that??? Why do parents know how to ruin good fun? (Just kidding, we would never do that! ………Or would we?)

When we got back it was quite late but we were determined to perform a concert for our parents, which we diligently prepared for that afternoon. So our parents gave in and we had fun performing, with a special pause for the paparazzi at the end.

In the morning Chrys and Heather had to go to work and we decided to “Hit the Road’. We are very lucky to be able to travel and we try to be conscious of not getting into people’s life too much when they have other things to do. So sadly for all of us we had to say good-bye.

We played for the last couple of hours in the morning (while mummy and daddy finished some computer work) and then we said goodbye to our great friends Owen and George.We went for our last walk together with the gorgeous little pup of course– Buck. We sure hope we can catch up with them again! We love our Rafting Buddies!

Our Rafting Buddies recommended that we go and check out the town of Branson (in Missouri), which required a little backtracking but it was so worth it. After 3 hrs driving in the opposite direction (to where we were originally planning to go next), we ended up in ‘Silver Dollar City’ theme park in Branson, Missouri.

What sounds like a name for a Casino (Silver Dollar City) is actually a theme park where everybody is dressed up like in the olden days. It really seems to us that US really loves celebrating history, which is wonderful.

The park was full of great rides: we didn’t discriminate – all of them got a decent use! Well, maybe except for the grown up ones – a bit too scary for us!

All in all, we had a ball!

We finished the great day with a street dance, which included our favorite - YMCA!

The next day we left just before lunch-time and we drove and we drove and we drove. In the evening we got to town called St Louis, which is on a border of Missouri and Illinois. Heather told us about this town’s beautiful arch, which mummy wanted to photograph at night.

The Gateway Arch is huge and it was built in the 1967 as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States. It is here, that the famous Lewis and Clark started their journey to the west, which took them 2 years, four months and 11 days. No wonder they built them this massive monument for their achievements – this arch is 630 feet tall (192m) and is the tallest man-made monument in the USA. Oh yeah, and it cost $13mil back then (which is equivalent to $100Mil now!). Now that’s what you call a monument!

We stayed overnight in a rest area. Not sure if this was a great idea as we had 30 noisy trucks next to us as well as the trailer turned into a sauna box – even at night the temperature was still at 40C (104F), and about double that inside the trailer. Not being able to connect to electricity meant we did not get any air conditioning. But hey, why complain? Our next stop was in Arthur, Illinois – a place where the Amish people don’t even HAVE electricity!

Arthur – Illinois

We were told about this town by people, who we met on our favorite dude ranch in Bandera, Texas, some 6 months ago. They live here and told us that most of their neighbors are Amish. Mummy and Daddy really wanted to teach us about different cultures and - how more different can you get than the Amish. We contacted our friends but unfortunately they were away on a vacation. Never mind, we though – we would check it out anyway.

Arthur is a cute little town and it’s home to the largest and oldest Amish Community in Illinois. Currently there are over 4000 Amish people living there. The minute you arrive there you have the feeling of the pace slowing down.

For those of you who don’t know who Amish are – here is a quick brief: the Amish are type of strict Christianity, which originated in Switzerland. They follow simple customs and refuse to take oaths, vote, or perform military service. They shun modern technology and conveniences. Transportation for the Amish is by horse and buggy. They do not have electricity or telephones in their homes. In nutshell, The Amish are kind, respectful, hard-working, and God-loving people.

As the Amish wish not to be closely photographed for their religious beliefs, mummy didn’t take any photos of them. She has downloaded this picture instead to show you what the Amish look like (this is a picture from a movie).

The town of Arthur is very pretty. Lots of white, clean households everywhere, with beautiful flowers lining the streets. There are Amish living there as well as other Americans and it seems one have great respect for the other.

We took a self-guided tour (a man in the shop gave us a CD to play in the car). It was a great way to learn about the Amish. We were very tempted to hop out of the car and meet some of the Amish folks but not knowing if they would like to be bothered, we just let them be. We did get a lot of waves though.

For lunch we went to the Yoda’s Kitchen, which was a huge buffet with yummy Amish food – you know the fried chicken, mash potato and meatloaf kind of meal? Yum!

While mummy was standing in the queue (the line) an older Amish man came up to her and told her that he was admiring her dress. He said he really liked women wearing dresses. Mummy was quite complemented (she was happy she swapped her little jeans shorts for the conservative dress with long sleeves before we got to town). As she looked around she saw that with many dozens of tourists around, she was the only one wearing a dress (except for us two of course). Everybody was parading in shorts, regardless of the age OR size. What happened to this world, she thought. Have we changed the simple, humble life for a fast-track?

The rest of the afternoon, after a lengthy trip around the town and it’s surrounds, we spent in the local pool. The heat was really getting to us. At one stage out thermometer clicked 47C (115F). And although we are used to heat in Australia, the humidity really got to us.

As we left the town of Arthur we decided we are going to do a bit more research on the Amish Community and possibly visit another one, somewhere in Pennsylvania perhaps. Mummy said she’d like to find a way for us to interact with them a bit more so that we could learn about their culture first hand.

We probably would’ve stayed longer in Arthur, Illinois but we were on a kind-of mission. We actually had a destination where we wished to be in a day or two.

*******************

KENTUCKY - END OF JULY 2012

Not sure if you remember, but we met some awesome people in Alaska who we named ‘The Bumble Bees’. If not, here is the famous ‘shot’ of out time together, LOL

Well, Laura and Curt (top and bottom left) happen to live in Kentucky with their son Griffin (the ‘Baby-Bumble-Bee’) and they invited us over to check out their hives of bees. This year they harvested a 100pounds of honey (45kg) – now, THAT’s a lot of yummy honey!

We had to be there by the end of the week as they were going to move to Pennsylvania in a few days and wanted us to come down to Kentucky, the Bourbon (thumbs up from daddy) and Horse (thumbs up from mum) capital of the world! As for us, we were just happy to see the yummy-honey bees and meet little Griffin, the Happy- Baby- Bumble-Bee, LOL. Also, we couldn’t wait to do the ‘bee dance’ with Curt again!

As we arrived in town pretty late we decided to set up ourselves in a campground, which Bumble-Bee- Lauren had recommended - which just happened to be right in the heart of a Kentucky Horse Park. As soon as we got to the campground a massive thunderstorms started. The lightning was so bright and loud that scared us to the bone, especially when one bolt hit a nearby tree. Our parents were trying to stay cool, calm, collected – trying to explain to us how important the rain is but I think they were really worried as well.

We somehow survived the night and walk up to a beautiful sunshine and a muggy 40C (104F). We rang our bumble Bee Friends and discovered they had a surprise for us – their parents, Allan and Norma arrived last night as well (to help them move) so we got to catch up with most of the family we met in Alaska.

It was so awesome catching up with our Bumble Bee Friends and finally meeting Griffin, the youngest family member, who didn’t come to Alaska. He was JUST adorable! Especially once Bella and I finished with painting him in finger paints, he was just the best looking Baby Bumble Bee we have ever seen and we had an awesome time playing with him.

As we arrived, Lauren and Curt were packing up the house to go to Pennsylvania where Curt will be studying some more medicine for a couple of years. They were really sad to leave and we could totally understand why – a lush green 5-acre block, which is an absolute paradise for the whole family. With little chooks running around, beautiful home and a ‘Man Cave’ garage – no one was in a rush to pack…..

Even though we were very conscious not to disturb them in their last days of packing, they were very happy we could share their last day with them in their paradise.

Lauren gave us a wonderful gift – a stethoscope (she works as a nurse), which we just LOVED and soon enough put it to a good use.

Curt, on the other hand, gave us an awesome bee-keepers demonstration 101. He dressed me up as a little helper in one of those ‘I am an alien’ outfits and gave me a very important job to do. I had to control the ‘smoke-machine’.

Apparently when you put a little smoke into their hive, the bees go into a ‘wing-flapping’ mode trying to put out the fire and their ‘attacking defenses’ lowers substantially.

Hence Curt is able to hold them here with bare hands

Also, mummy (who you cannot see because she is on the other side of the camera – as always) is wearing a t-shirt, flip flops and only has a….camera for her protection.

I had to help Curt place special fly-mesh boxes on top of the hives to enclose the bees inside. Grandma Norma agreed to transport them ALL to Pennsylvania in her car! How would you like to be stuck in the car with 50,000 buzzing bees for 6 hrs straight? Mummy said, that this is called LOVE – anything for the family!

We really enjoyed learning about the bees (and tasting the delicious nectar). Lauren even gave us some to take with us on the road. Yummmo!

Even little Griffin gave us something for the road

Daddy helped the boys carry a few larger furnishings into the truck. We tried to ‘chip in’ as well but not sure how much help we ended up being.

The boys made sure they stayed ‘hydrated’ with local beer aged in Kentucky Bourbon barrels. It sure made their job more fun!

We also helped Pa Alan to celebrate his birthday by singing him Happy Birthday in….4 different languages! Lauren made the most delicious cherry chocolate cake for him, which of course we also helped to polish off. It was finger-licking delicious!

Before we left mummy did a quick photo shoot of this gorgeous family. We promised to visit them in Pennsylvania before we go back home

Here is the Bumble Bee Family - Love you guys!

We left the Bumble Bee Paradise armed with a list of great places to visit in Kentucky. On the way back to the campground we went on a scenic drive, checking out the beautifully manicured, multi-million dollar Thoroughbred Farms.

This is Kentucky after all, the racing capital of the USA! And so every Sheik or a Tabaco King has to have his castle nearby.

Some more literally than others.

The drive was just spectacular. You know, the ‘tunnel-like’ tree lined streets with classy horse fences...

The juicy-green pastures feeding multi-million dollar horses

Breathtaking properties. Which of course they use them for either offices or horse barns.

As we were driving around a cloud suddenly started to darken and a thunderstorm began to develop. This is a photo of a Church mummy took literally seconds before the skies opened up and threw bucket-loads of rain on us. Mummy JUST made it to the car to save her camera.

The next day we decided to spend at the property where our caravan was parked. No, not at the RV park but at the 12,000 acre property it was sitting on. See the RV Pak was placed in the middle of a working Horse Park, where all sorts of competitions continually take place.

First we went to check out the Show jumping competition. There we met a lady who’s granddaughter – Ashley was competing. This gave us somebody to cheer for. Ashley who is 28 years old, didn’t win this time but her show jumping horse, which she had in England at the Olympics won a gold medal!

As we strolled through the park, we met up with Tayla, a 10 year old girl who was staying in our RV campground for a whole month - just to ride her horse. But don’t feel bad for her – she lived in one of those 1/2 mil dollar coaches with a matching 1/4 million dollar horse trailer.

We also met some of her friends and their lovely ponies.

After checking out a kids barn, where one could learn everything there is to know about caring for your pony, we tried our own luck in horse jumping. Except that…oh, yeah – we didn’t have a horse! Well, that still didn’t stop us trying, LOL.

In the afternoon after lunch and a quick play at the playground, we went to watch the Reining Competition. That’s when cowboys and cowgirls make their horses spin on the spot and then after riding them fast they crank their brakes. Whoa, it was so cool!

On the way back from a wonderful day we stopped by to watch some more Show Jumping – this time they had the actual Grand Prix on, where horses were jumping so high we wouldn’t even be able to reach. Neither would mummy, I am sure LOL.

The next day we went to see Tayla (our neighbor) compete again. A lovely judge lady gave us a few ribbons as a gift so we would always remember Kentucky Horse Park.

While we ventured off through the park, mummy went on a ‘behind the scenes’ farm tour of some of the most renowned Bluegrass farms.

The farms usually owned by the ‘squillionaire’ Sheiks from Dubai or Tabaco Moguls, were impeccably manicured, expensively landscaped and superbly furnished.

Mummy got to spoil some spectacular ‘$$$$$’ horses in training with peppermint candy and pet some gorgeous $2.5mil babies.

Some of those owners, who only fly in occasionally (to pick up trophies I guess), have around 300 horses and over 100 staff members. Not bad for a little hobby!

Mummy also learned the real story behind this castle we saw the other day. Apparently two rich brothers went to England in 1956 and after quite a few drinks in the pub one said to the other: I am gong to build my wife a castle when we get home. To which his brother responded ‘I bet you $100 you will not’. The castle was built shortly after but because the couple split up in the process nobody lived in that castle for 33 years. It then became a Bed and Breakfast and a conference center. I guess those Kentuckians take their bets seriously!

Mummy said the trip through the Bluegrass country was a real treat! She also met some nice people on the trip, Candace and Terry, who are RV-ing full time and who came up to say ‘hello’ when we came to pick mummy up. They gave us a few really good recommendations of places to visit, which was fantastic!

After lunch we hooked up our caravan and off we went to check out Bumble-Bee Curt’s favorite place to visit– the Buffalo Trace Bourbon Factory.

Even as kids we were allowed to join the grown ups on this fun tour, which took us for a walk amidst the path of rolling bourbon barrels. It was very interesting, but what we liked the best were the little chocolate treats we got (2 each for good behavior) while mummy and daddy tasted the famous Kentucky Bourbon.

We couldn’t leave Kentucky without ‘ticking off’ another little town, which was recommended by Candace – the town called Bardstown. Candace (who mummy met on the tour) told us that ‘USA Today’ voted the town as one of ‘The Best Small Towns in America’. It sure was beautiful with all those old restored homes and stunning old churches and an incredible beautiful Information Centre.